Seven goals and a red card: Lens win a wild one against Auxerre

Lens 5-2 Auxerre was the weekend’s chaos game — seven goals, a sending-off and a home side that simply overwhelmed its guest. Lens ran up a remarkable 4.45 expected goals to Auxerre’s 1.79; on chance quality this was a rout long before the scoreline caught up.

Florian Thauvin set it rolling on 12 minutes and closed it out on 88, a brace either side of a Lens avalanche. Franjo Ivanović, Saud Abdulhamid and Pierre-Ismaël Ganiou all struck in between, as Lens turned a stream of high-value chances into goals with the confidence of a side in full flow.

Christ Makosso’s 35th-minute red card tilted an already-difficult afternoon past the point of recovery. Auxerre did land two of their own through Danny Namaso and Lamine Sy — no small feat — but a man down and 4.45 xG against, the concession of five was the inevitable end of the story.

Lens were irresistible: 4.45 xG is the kind of number that wins most games at a canter, and five goals barely flattered them. Auxerre will point to the red card, but the underlying play says they were second best regardless. A wild scoreline, and a deserved one.